My Brother has Breast Cancer

They have so many treatment options for breast cancer, Plum. Think of all the money that they have invested towards it. Don't freak out, wait until the the oncologist report comes back and see what the Dr recommends as a treatment plan. Sounds like it was caught relatively early.

Plum, I'm sorry to hear that. Wishing your brother all the best.

Beyonce's daddy survived this

Just had my last breast cancer related doctor's appointment, officially 10 years out. There is a future out there. Richard "Shaft" Roundtree is a survivor.

As long as it hasn’t spread, I’m hopeful. The 5-year survival rate for men with breast cancer is good in stages 1 and 2. At stage 3 it’s roughly 50% and 25% at stage 4.

Thank you for your positive comments. I appreciate it.

Sorry about your brother but keep the faith, medical treatments for breast cancer have improved and has a high success rate.

My cousin is recovering from colon cancer and he’s only 53 so this can come as a shock to family.

I say this in every cancer thread, but please contact Livestrong for yourself and have your brother do the same. They serve as a clearinghouse to connect people to the services that will help them with their specific disease. It's an amazing organization that helped my boyfriend when he had brain cancer, and it's also helped other members of my family.

I'm a survivor. The treatments today are not like the treatments even 10 years ago. They are MUCH better and your brother will be ok.

This makes me sad. Some people are handed challenging lives. Many people, actually. I have had good things and some really bad ones. My best wishes to your brother and to you. My gut tells me he will be okay. I am still sorry, as he certainly did not need this struggle and health scare in addition to what else he has to deal with :(

R7 gave some great advice--

Wishing your brother a speedy recovery, and wishing you peace of mind, Plum.

Hugs to you and your brother….

Hi Plum,

I hope your brother’s physical and mental health stay strong and that you take care of yourself throughout this healing process. I’m glad you shared.

If you can, try to stop imagining the worst coming to pass. If you must imagine the future, imagine the best possible outcome. It certainly can’t hurt. I hope your brother beats this.

So sorry to hear this. Sending positive and healthy energy to you and your brother.

For all the scary stuff you read there are also hopeful things and good outcomes. I wish you and your brother the best.

You are a loving brother, Plum. Sending best wishes to you & your brother.

My Uncle was diagnosed with Breast cancer in 1979. I never heard of men having it. I am sure with the procedures they didn't offer the options like today. He lived 5 years.

Breast cancer survival has increased amazingly for many people. I have two cousins and my partner's cousin who were diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. One cousin survived 15 years, my other cousin (her daughter) was diagnosed with metastases in her brain and lungs seven years ago and told that without treatment she'd have died in two weeks, and she's better now than any time over the years. The cousin-in-law has been at stage 4 for over 20 years and has survived three terrible accidents just fine. They're all women.

A friend's father's breast cancer was diagnosed when he was in his late 50s, at stage 2. This was 12 years ago and he's fine physically - has Alzheimer's.

Men have higher mortality rates from breast cancer than women do, even when a variety of factors are controlled for. The sense is that men likely are undertreated and are diagnosed later, but there may be a biological cause involved. That doesn't mean that a man with breast cancer will die from it - the survival rate is general, not individual, and after five years men in the study still had a survival rate of about 77%.

God bless you for not abandoning your brother. So many mentally ill people lose their familial support in the long slog that is living with a chronic and persistent mental illness. Here’s hoping for effective treatment and healing for your brother…a hug for both of you ((())) ❤️❤️❤️

Plum, you are an amazing person for sharing this. I am very very hopeful for your brother too. He has definitely been handed a bad hand in life, but the truth is that that is what happens — some people have greater misfortune. And the way we can honor them is by not judging how they carry their burdens, and by being in that space with them so that they don’t have to carry it alone.

This thread is making me feel good about DataLounge.

I am so sorry, Plum. I can't imagine what you're going through.

Twenty years ago, I lost my best friend from law school (we both graduated about 15 years earlier, so, yes, I'm old. He was gay, and I was doing a terrible job of being closeted.

He died from breast cancer way back then. What really troubled him for the last few months of his life was that he went to a doctor, early on, complaining of weird stuff coming out of his nipples. Shouldn't that have set off alarm bells? Or at least further testing until they figured out what was causing this abnormal condition?

Well, in case, it didn't...at least until it was far too late to do anything about it.

In the end, he was always upbeat and shared my dark humor. His "Miss America" platform would have been, "Dudes get breast cancer, too!"

In his final FU to the medical establishment, his will paid for a cement bench in the "Hispanic section" of his local, south Texas cemetery (yes, they had, and may still have for all I know), emblazoned with his name, dates of birth and death, and the phrase, "KILLED BY MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE."

Sorry to hear, OP.

Much love and hope, Plum.